


Five Cats of The Household

by MyBlackCrimsonRose



Series: From Volleyball to Beyond [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Cats, Established Relationship, Future Fic, M/M, Multi, Roommates, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-26
Updated: 2016-02-26
Packaged: 2018-05-23 10:21:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6113506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyBlackCrimsonRose/pseuds/MyBlackCrimsonRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kuroo Tetsurou was a cat magnet. There was no way else to describe it. </p><p>(Or the explanation in how they ended up with five cats)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Cats of The Household

**Author's Note:**

> Blame my headcanons on my tumblr and someone requesting me to write about them in a prompt.

Kuroo Tetsurou was a cat magnet. There was no way else to describe it—the man worked at a cat café after his classes at the University (and volleyball practice). He was by far the busiest of the three with four classes, volleyball practice (in which he made the same team as Wakatoshi) and working weekends and some evenings at the café.

He loved it; sure making coffee with cats getting up all in your business was a little… distracting, but compared to a lot of coffee shops it wasn’t a constant flow. You went to these kinds of places to linger, not really focusing on the coffee but more of the companionship of the cats. Each cat had their own character but for the most part they were all very friendly. Tetsurou loved it.

He loved it so much in fact that one day when he wasn’t working he had stumbled upon a mother cat and her two kittens playing about behind a dumpster near one of the fast food joints he enjoyed visiting when he _really_ didn’t want to cook for himself and his two partners. It wasn’t _his fault_ that he was the best cook out of the three and thus it fell upon his to cook for the house. But, that wasn’t the point. The point was that as soon as he spotted the mother cat he had fallen for her and her two skinny not-so-young kittens.

They looked old enough to leave their mother but clearly didn’t wish to. Not that Tetsurou could blame them. They all looked to be types of [Burmilla cats](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burmilla); the mother taking on the more pale lilac-like fur colour while one of her kitten had more dark grey in his (Tetsurou later checked) and the other had the more typical Russian blue tint to hers.

He had sat down with them, holding his hand out to the tiny family for an hour. An hour of just sitting and watching as the family moved closer and closer until he began to pet them. It was another half an hour of just bonding before Tetsurou had swept the three of them carefully into his embrace (completely forgetting any urge for food) before carrying them home.

Kei hadn’t been impressed.

Wakatoshi had stopped, hair dripping wet from his shower to stare down at the tiny family of three in Tetsurou’s arms. Tetsurou’s eyes went wide, a pout forming as he and Wakatoshi stared at each other. The man looking between his dark haired lover, the cats, and then to Kei. “I like them,” he informed the younger male.

Kei hadn’t been impressed by that either.

Nor when Tetsurou kept bringing home cats—and by that he meant that he had come home from class one day and there was a pile a cats perched upon Wakatoshi. Both men stared at Kei in silence, slowly blinking. “Did you go hunting for every stray?!” Kei’s voice cracked, pointing at both of them. He let out a wordless scream when they continued to just _stare_.

“We’re keeping Fluffy.” Wakatoshi stated; in his hand he held up a [fluffy long haired white and black cat](http://m-a-r-v-e-l-ous.tumblr.com/post/139999749614/recklesssketches-theoreocat-hes-getting-his) whose purrs could be heard from across the room.

“We’ll find new homes for them!” Tetsurou, the one responsible for all of this, finally perked up. His face soft as he grinned ear to ear, his body covered in cats and fur.

\--

Libero and Ace grew quick; no longer tiny skinny kittens chasing after their mother’s tail but adolescent cats running around the living room in the dead of night. Kei would never tell them but he enjoyed having the cats, he liked coming home knowing that someone (furred or not) would come great him as soon as he stepped through the door.

Kei liked finding the kittens all tuckered out from playing through the night, gathering Libero into his arms and pressing a kiss to his grey furred head. He liked how Ace would roll over on her back and let him rub her belly like no other cat he had seen before—she loved it. She’d lay there purring for hours as Kei would watch his movie or TV shows with her spread over his lap.

But Naomi (and at the end of the day the kittens as well. It didn’t matter how much love Kei would give them they’d always go running to Tetsurou when he called or they’d only listen to him when he scolded them)… Naomi was by far Tetsurou’s cat. She’d sleep on his side of the bed when he wasn’t in it (Kei liked to assume she was protecting it), she’d sleep on his back or beside his head when he was sleeping, she’d sit in his seat at the table if she knew he was going to that direction and always sit on his lap when he ate, she’d watch him while he cook, and she had even jumped onto the toilet to keep him company while he showered.

They only lived in that one bedroom apartment for a year; one whole year of just Tetsurou, Wakatoshi, Kei and the four cats. It was nice having his own kitchen, the television all to himself when he got home. Even only having to compete with his lovers for the cats’ affections were fine.

But when Kenma needs help—the fact that he didn’t have a place lined up that was affordable once he stopped living in his dorm at University… well, Tetsurou would go to Hell and back for his little brother figure. And it only was happenstance that both Bokuto and Akashi were on the market for a place a little further from campus and closer to the school Bokuto got his coaching position at. Akashi had gotten in for his Master’s program, Kei was still in University, and Tetsurou was going to the Law school that was a quick train ride away.

With now only Wakatoshi with the only vehicle to attend his practice and games, it made things… difficult. But they had made due with something—for six people and five cats, the four bedroom house was fine. It worked.

It’ll work until they all could get their shit together and get their own places again. And Kei would admit that it was nice to spend time with both Akashi and Kenma more; they had a refreshing personality. A nice calming effect when Kei’s schooling started to reach crunch time.

Wakatoshi couldn’t help, he just tended to make his antsy feeling worse. His natural intense aura didn’t help when Kei was panicked, lacking sleep and so stressed his normal curly hair started lacking curls. Tetsurou just wasn’t around enough all that much anymore and when he was he needed to take care of himself—that man was going to run himself to the ground before anyone else and he’ll be too damn stubborn to just stay down and _rest_.

It was during this _crunch time_ that those cats came in handy. Tetsurou trained them well; those three would latch on purring their way through all of Kei’s internal freak outs, all his late night studying and essay writing. They’d cuddle with him when he got in, circling his feet when he’d leave the table or the couch and just follow him room to room. Meowing and purring to give him a sense that he wasn’t _so alone_.

\--

They all had a habit, a tick of sorts when things were spiralling out of control.

Kei shuts down, checks out for anywhere from an hour to a few days at a time. Back when it was just the three of them in the apartment before the cats, Kei would just lay in bed for however long his brain checked out for. Both of his older lovers would have to guide him through the mundane motions; from eating to showering. They couldn’t get him to his classes, but they made sure to reach out to either his professors or his classmates for notes or readings that Kei would be able to read over once he rebooted. Now though, Kei seemed to just find a nice quiet place with the four cats and just nap for the rest of the day and return back to his normal self.

Wakatoshi would power through. Grinding his teeth, square his shoulders and just power through. He’d stop talking in that time, going a 180 from what they knew and loved to a man they weren’t familiar with. They had only seen this part of him twice—both during final exams at the height of Volleyball finals when he had been firmly awarded the title of Ace. Once all was said and done the man had uttered a guilty “I’m sorry” not once being able to look either in the eye.

Tetsurou was different though. He typically came home and sought out affection, curling up with the first person (typically the first lover) he’d see. Tucking himself into their side and cuddling with them in silence. It would be during that time that Wakatoshi, if he was not the one being cuddled, would gather their cats and join in with said creatures. But, since moving in with Bokuto, Akashi, and Kenma that hadn’t changed—in fact it could be said that Tetsurou had never _cracked_ until that moment. Instead of doing what he had typically done since the three had moved in together the man had ignored them, walking past the couch as the four (because of course they had to have been _all_ home to witness it) stared at his back in shocked concern.

He had locked himself away with Kenma. The whole time he had stayed in his room even when Kenma came out for food. _“Just… give him a bit more time,”_ he had told them, his face giving far more away than what he believed. Kei knew something was wrong; everything just _screamed_ it. But both he and Wakatoshi kept their distance. Tetsurou would come find them when he was ready.

He did.

He had come crawling to bed an hour after they had, laying between them with a watery sigh. _“Sorry. Didn’t want to worry you.”_ But he did. Neither pried as the man broke down again, his sobs catching in his throat as he slowly went about releasing the buildup of all his stress, all the pressure and tension.

Tetsurou had slept between them that night. His face buried in Kei’s pillow, soaking it with tears and snot and drool. But he had woke up early the next morning, going out for a run with Wakatoshi and making breakfast for everyone when he got back. His shoulders visibly loose, his breathing calm and steady as he smiled and greeted their roommates and his lovers.

\--

Kei had found Mittens that winter while sitting on the steps. He remembered it was before the first snow fall, the air had that typical winter bite when a skinny white and orange cat came walking up to him much like how he could only picture all those cats would do to Tetsurou. He had been out there waiting for Tetsurou to get home.

Tetsurou had recently quit his job (well, going from part-time to only working during the summer) after his breakdown. The whole house had sat him down two days later and told him he needed to slow down. Kei had started getting more and more shifts at the University Library to help cover their part of the rent, Wakatoshi had called up mother and explained the situation that they might need to borrow money during the time his career as a professional Volleyball player was taking off (he still had money but he and Kei _knew_ that if they didn’t have any backup option that Tetsurou would only mope).

Both Kenma and Akashi had very… creatively worded that if Tetsurou felt guilty for no longer bringing money into the house he could just cook for them and save them all from bad food and possible food poisoning (like when Bokuto had tried to cook for all of them).

Tetsurou glared but caved under both of his lover’s firm stares.

Inside Bokuto was cackling loudly, retelling a tale from volleyball practice on how one of his student couldn’t receive a ball if it didn’t launch from a part of his body and peg another. There had been two students knocked out from stray volleyballs to the face—the whole thing just reminded him of Hinata in his first and second year (by the third year his receives were actually decent).

The cat, white save for the orange tail and front two paws (making it look like she wore gloves to keep her dainty paws from touching snow) sat down beside him on the stairs. Her yellow-green eyes staring up at him, waiting to be pet. She didn’t meow, didn’t nudge his leg or arm. She only stared, sitting tall and proud alongside him.

Kei set a hand on top of her head, his palm smoothing down her fur in a firm pet. “Looks like you found a friend,” Kei’s attention snapped from the cat to the man he had been waiting for. His crimson scarf tucked into his black pea coat, black leather gloves covering his hands that held his briefcase and a plastic bag with the logo from the bakery he liked to visit. No doubt containing a mixture of donuts, cookies and maybe that loaf of that cinnamon bread that Wakatoshi had grown addicted to recently.

 “I guess,” Kei shrugged, gathering the cat in his arms. The feline only looked all the more pleased by the development, settling in when the blond stood with her in his arms. “It’s only fair if I have one as well,” he stated, eyeballing his partner. Waiting for the man to say anything—he didn’t.

\--

All of that. All of the last year and two months and three days brought them to this moment. To this very moment when Bokuto blurted out that worst possible question. How could he do that? Tetsurou looked on to his so called _Bro_ with betrayal. Wakatoshi’s brow creased as he folded his arms across his chest. Kei had finally closed his jaw, squaring his shoulders.

_Which cat is your favourite?_

Akashi covered his face with a pillow, attempting to smoother himself after hearing his lover’s idiotic question. Sure, maybe it might have been a normal question for someone that wasn’t _them_. But to _them_ their cats were like their children—they WERE their children. At this point Kei was still in University, Tetsurou was just starting to get a handle back on his life, and Wakatoshi’s career was taking of; they couldn’t exactly _have_ kids either, nor world their country acknowledge any marriage. So children were very much out of the picture; children that weren’t fuzzy and meowed.

“Fluffy.” Tetsurou wailed at Wakatoshi straight forward answer only a beat afterwards. His face stern, stoic. He was completely and utterly serious about it all. And it was no surprise. Fluffy was Wakatoshi’s cat. He made the man smile far more often, far more _free_ , than even his lovers could do (put then again, the man did like them working for any smiles).

Kei glared, “Mittens.” Again Tetsurou wailed, clenching his button up grey dress shirt over where his heart was located. He was still dressed up from law school; black dress pants already covered in cat fur (and maybe some of Bokuto’s hair… the man was shedding as well).

“You can’t just pick favourites from our kids! That’s no fair!!” The man shouted, grabbing both of his lover’s shirts and dragging their face towards his. “You can’t go playing favourites on our _babies!_ ” he scolded, his words falling upon deaf ears.

Kenma shook his head, fingers running through one of the named cat’s fur as they purred away. Completely unaware of the animated discussion that involved them (or they knew but didn’t care). It was more than likely the latter option if Mitten’s smug look was anything to go from as her purrs increased as the dyed blond haired man’s fingers trailed lower to itch her chin.

Their humans could choose whomever their favourite was—it mattered not to them. But the end of the day it was Tetsurou who go to bed with cats piling up upon his back. They had learned it from Naomi. They had learned it from their humans who would adore the man, showering his with the affection that he so desperately needed.

The humans could love one more than the other all they pleased, but at the end of the day it was always the cat who would choose their favourite human.


End file.
